The God of the Broken

A little over two years ago the story starts.

A mama adopting three babes from a baby house where our son Aaron spent his first 5 years.  Two of her children were at the baby house and the third was in the hospital.  The mama was waiting out her days to bring them home.  To keep the two little ones happy she was pushing them around the driveway in the stroller.  Around and around they were going. Happy little girls on the go in their stroller.

As they rounded the driveway, their happiness was broken by hysterical screaming coming from the front of the building.  Two little boys were being carried out of the baby house in the arms of their caretakers.  They were screaming and fighting as they were hauled down the steps. NYET, NYET, NYET.  The mama watched in shock and horror as the boys were stuffed, kicking and screaming, inside a waiting car and the doors shut.  The caretakers wiping tears as they hurried back into the building.  The boys inside the car howling and crying.

The mama, with tears streaming down her face, leaned into the window and whispered to the tiny little guys that their Mama was coming.  She was coming. Hang on.

She didn't come.

 

The mama that had committed to these boys was unable to finish the adoption and Everett and Olson disappeared into the world of transfer with few sightings.

A little over two years passed.  The mama never forgetting the two little boys.  Never forgetting her promise.

Never forgetting.

A few months ago the two little boys were found. Battered. Bruised. Neglected. Abused.

Everett and Olson.

   

And the mama who whispered words of hope to the two little boys two years ago - that mama - Michelle Enskat - she stepped up and claimed them as her own!

Your mama is coming soon boys.  She is coming soon.

A week ago I was messaging with Michelle Enskat and we were trying to figure out what in the world they were going to do to raise 15,000 in order to go get the boys.  They were worried and were actually considering putting the adoption on hold until the funds could be raised.  But how could they leave the boys in a world where they are being regularly abused and beaten?

She was worried sick about her two little boys but unsure if she could proceed.  $15,000 was a lot of money.

It was sobering and sad and I was doing everything I could to reassure her that God WOULD provide.  I could believe no less that that because over and over again we were seeing how God was directing this entire story and I believed with all my heart that He was going to see it to completion.  Michelle didn't witness the transfer of Olson and Everett by accident.  They weren't 'found' again by accident.  We could see God's design all over the place.  And we both knew deep in our hearts that God is the God of the broken.

But I had a lump in my throat and a pit in my stomach.  How WAS God going to provide??

I whispered prayers as we ended our conversation.... Could you maybe sell a few cattle, Lord??

Two days later Michelle was given the astounding news that she was being offered a 7,500 matching grant.  

Wow!! Wow!!  $7,500 was a lot less than $15,000.00..

Wow!! Wow!!

What an answer to prayer!! Cattle were being sold to redeem the boys!!  The God of the Broken was on the move!

A bunch of us got our heads together and tried to figure out how we were going to raise the remaining $7,500.00.  I was little to no help - the others had some ideas but no clear direction... $250.00 came in but that was a long ways from $7,500.00.

By Sunday morning, Michelle was starting to worry again and sent us a message asking if we were okay with her posting the matching on her blog... Even if we hadn't come up with a real plan on how to raise the rest.

Of course.. 

Maybe someone out there would just write a check????

Maybe God would sell more cattle?

Then Michelle went to church.

And as I shared yesterday - someone did write a check.  Her church.  

And we cried and rejoiced and praised God.

Now we were down to $2,250.00. A much more doable number.  

But it didn't end there.

Yesterday morning I received an e-mail from a blogging RR friend and she informed me that she had just donated $400.00.  Wow!!  Wow!!  $1850.00 and I still hadn't done more than share that I was overwhelmed by the whole thing!!

But it didn't end there.

Nope.  God was working without any of us having to do anything but just sit back and watch HIM move in hearts.  

By Monday afternoon - the entire remainder of what she needed - $1850.00 - was donated by a family who wanted to support the Enskats.  They want to see the boys come home.

DID YOU READ ALL OF THAT??

We did NOTHING.  We did absolutely nothing.  We just prayed and worried and prayed some more.  

God did it all.  He sold off a few cattle on his thousands of hills to get the Enskats funded and all we did was sit back and watch in shock and awe.  We watched God care and love and provide for the adoption of two little boys who are desperate to get out.

Dear friends - Watching God move in such an amazing way is just one more confirmation for me that I serve and love a LIVING and LOVING God.  He is a God who wants to redeem lives from the pit.  Pure and simple.  He sets the lonely in families and Everett and Olson are the definition of desperate and lonely.

Battered and bruised.  Abused and mistreated.

Two years ago Michelle witnessed a horrific scene that pierced her heart deeply.

It pierced God's heart too.

Her whispered prayers for those boys did not go unheard that day as she prayed for their mama.

As she prayed for herself and her husband.

He heard and He is moving.  Those boys have never ever been forgotten.

I sit here today in praise and awe and in utter gratefulness that MY GOD is a Redeemer of the broken and bruised and battered and abused.

Olson and Everett's story is a beautiful reminder to me of God's constant and ever-present mercy and grace.

I am grateful to know this God of the broken and bruised because I too am broken and bruised.  I am needy and sinful and in great need of grace and mercy.   I am grateful for a God who redeems lives from pits. Who seeks out and saves the lost.   Who came Himself to die on our behalf so that we might have life!  I am grateful to know this God.  I am grateful for the privilege of witnessing his demonstration of LOVE and CONCERN to the Least because I am no less least than the kids we are advocating for.  For those of us who are broken and bruised and battered and broken - we have HOPE. The God of the Broken is alive and well and definitely in the business of seeking and saving all of us who are lost and crying out for help and hope.

He is the God of the broken.

He is the God of the broken.

THANKS BE TO GOD!!